1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone and a method of manufacturing the same, and, more particularly, to an image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone and a method of manufacturing the same in which a drive integrated circuit, a multi-layer ceramic condenser or the like is mounted on an image sensor chip, so that the resulting product is miniaturized, thus enabling cost savings and enhancing product competitiveness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile phones are in extensive use these days, and each unit incorporates an image sensor module so as to take a still image of a subject and then store or transmit the image data.
The image sensor module incorporated in mobile phones must include a drive integrated circuit and other peripheral chips as well as an image sensor chip therein, unlike other image sensor modules such as the LCC (Leadless Chip Carrier) type and the COB (Chip On Board) type image sensor modules which include only image sensor chips packaged therein. Accordingly, the manufacture of image sensor modules incorporated in mobile phones requires a technology form integrating a plurality of chips while reducing overall size and the height dimension of the modules.
FIGS. 1 to 3 show an example of a conventional image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone.
A process of manufacturing the conventional image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone is now described with reference to the drawings. A printed circuit board 1, which is slightly larger than an image sensor chip, is prepared, and an image sensor chip 2, a drive integrated circuit 3, multi-layer ceramic condenser 4 and the like are mounted on the printed circuit board 1. The printed circuit board 1 further includes a memory chip 5 and peripheral chips 6 mounted on the bottom surface thereof.
To the end of the printed circuit board 1 on which the chips and the like are mounted, a flexible printed circuit 7 is connected using heat fusion. A connector 8 is connected to the other end of the flexible printed circuit 7 using a surface mount technology (SMT), thus preparing an image sensor module.
The image sensor module, which is prepared using the printed circuit board and a flexible printed circuit in this manner, is easily connected to a mobile phone via a connector.
However, in the conventional image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone, since the printed circuit board is connected to the flexible printed circuit by such a drastically small region using heat fusion, the connected region has a high susceptibility to mechanical shock and bending motions, and thus reliability in the connection region between the printed circuit board and the flexible printed circuit is low.
Furthermore, since the printed circuit board and the flexible printed circuit are separately prepared and then connected to each other, the number of processes is increased, and the manufacturing process is somewhat complicated.
FIG. 4 shows another example of a conventional image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone, which is devised to overcome the above problems occurring in the related art.
Referring to FIG. 4, in this example, a rigid-flexible printed circuit board 1 is prepared by integrating a rigid part having a high mechanical strength and a flexible part that is freely bendable, without separate production of the rigid printed circuit board and the flexible printed circuit. As in the previous example, an image sensor chip 2, a drive integrated circuit 3, a multi-layer ceramic condenser 4 and the like are mounted on the rigid part of the rigid-flexible printed circuit board 1, a memory chip 5 and peripheral chips are mounted on the bottom surface of the rigid-flexible printed circuit board 1, and a connector 7 is connected to an end of the flexible part of the rigid-flexible printed circuit board 1.
Since the above conventional image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone is configured such that an image sensor chip, a drive integrated circuit, a multi-layer ceramic condenser and the like are mounted on the printed circuit board, there is a need for a printed circuit board having a large area, thus making the miniaturization of the image sensor module embedded in a mobile phone troublesome.